George Barret Senior RA (1732-1784)

One of the most renowned Irish
landscape artists of the 18th century, George Barret (Senior) succeeded
in carving out a highly lucrative career as a painter in London, before
succumbing to bankruptcy. All four of his children became artists, including
George Barret Junior (1767-1842).
Barret occupies an important position of one of the forerunners of romantic
landscape.

Biography

Born in Dublin,
the son of a clothier, he was initially apprenticed to a corset-maker
before studying drawing and painting
under Robert West at the Royal
Dublin Society School in George's Lane. At the age of 15 he drew attention
to himself by winning a prize at the annual examination of the Dublin
Society. While at art school, he earned money by colouring prints for
a print-seller in Nicholas Street and after graduating he worked for a
time as an art teacher in a Dublin school.

MEANING OF ART
For a discussion of the types,
values, and significance of the
visual arts, see: Definition of Art.

It was during his early twenties that Barret
was noticed by Edmund Burke, who later became one of his patrons. Meantime,
Burke persuaded Barret to visit and paint in County
Wicklow, where he spent several years depicting the Powerscourt waterfall.
In 1757, he married Frances Percy, a Dublin girl.

In 1763, at the age of 30, due to lack
of interest in his landscape
painting and specifically because he could find no buyer for a series
of etchings, he left Dublin to
seek his fortune in London. The following year he duly sent a number of
pictures to the exhibition of the Society of Artists, including View
of the Waterfall at Powerscourt, and View in the Dargle. Some
months later, his large-scale composition Landscape with Figures
was shown at the Free Society Exhibition where it gained a prize of £50
given by the Society of Arts for the most accomplished landscape.

Befriended and recommended by fellow Irishman
James Barry, who had just mourned the death
of the Cork landscape painter John Butts,
Barrett continued to exhibit at the Society of Artists for the next three
years until 1768, and less regularly with the Free Society. His talent
for creating idyllic Claudian-type pastoral views and romantic mountainous
landscapes soon attracted a number of patrons, and commissions poured
in. It is said that Lord Dalkeith paid £1500 for three of his paintings,
almost certainly a wild exaggeration, although even half this amount was
a huge sum at the time. Barret was also heavily involved in the foundation
of the London Royal Academy, becoming one of it's original members, and
showed there regularly until 1782 - a total of 31 paintings in all.

By now, he was earning the princely sum
of £2,000 a year, but unfortunately spending even more. Mercifully,
his old friend Edmund Burke rescued him from the consequences of bankruptcy
by securing him the lucrative position of Master Painter to Chelsea Hospital.
For the last two years, although suffering from asthma and general ill-health,
Barret continued to paint, producing some of his best work. He died in
1784, aged 52.

Work

Inspired by Dutch
Realists such as Jacob
van Ruisdael (1628-82) and Jan Wijnants (1620-84), George Barret showed
a great talent for both composition and painterly dexterity, although
some critics now think that he overplayed his sense of formality. For
example, while his scenery was both topographically correct and botannically
accurate, it was less inspirational than some of his contemporaries. That
said, his portrayal of water, his tonal work and his depiction of foliage
was and still is highly regarded.

Although he specialized in oil painting,
he also produced a number of works in gouache
and watercolour, along with
a few etchings.

Collections

George Barret's works appear in a number
of public and private collections including: National Gallery of Ireland,
Limerick Art Gallery, Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Walker
Art Gallery, Liverpool, to name but a few.

Most Expensive Work by George Barret,
Senior

The auction record for a work by George
Barret, Senior, was set in 2005, when his scenic painting, entitled Wooded
Landscape with Fishermen Hauling In Their Nets, was sold at Christie's,
London, for £512,000.